Marc Márquez answered Marco Bezzecchi's spectacular record-breaking pole by winning Saturday's MotoGP Sprint at Misano on 12 September 2026, on a day that delivered both a new all-time circuit record and another important round in the World Championship fight.

The Ducati Lenovo Team rider started second but passed Bezzecchi under braking for Turn 1. Márquez then controlled the 13-lap Sprint and took the chequered flag 1.068 seconds clear. Marco Bezzecchi finished second for Aprilia Racing, while championship leader Jorge Martín completed the podium.

Márquez strikes immediately

Bezzecchi started from pole after his record lap in morning qualifying. Márquez did not let him convert that grid advantage into the race lead. The Spaniard launched well, took first place at Turn 1 and completed the opening lap in front.

By mid-Sprint Márquez held about a one-second gap. Bezzecchi stayed close and, with five laps remaining, had cut the deficit to around half a second. Márquez responded: on lap 11 he set the fastest lap of the race, 1:30.734, a new Misano race lap record, and kept the lead to the finish.

Sixth Sprint win of 2026

The Misano result is Márquez's sixth Sprint victory of the 2026 season. Updated standings after the Sprint — consistent with the gaps reported by MotoGP.com, 22 points covering the top three, and by Reuters, Márquez 14 points behind Martín — leave Jorge Martín leading on 263 points, Marc Márquez second on 249 and Marco Bezzecchi third on 241.

Martín started fifth, passed Fabio Di Giannantonio for the podium and finished third, 3.538 seconds behind the winner. He did not have the pace to threaten Márquez or Bezzecchi, but he limited the damage in the title fight.

Official Sprint result

The official MotoGP classification after 13 laps is: 1. Marc Márquez (Ducati Lenovo Team); 2. Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing); 3. Jorge Martín (Aprilia Racing); 4. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team); 5. Álex Márquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP); 6. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing); 7. Raúl Fernández (SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team); 8. Fermín Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP); 9. Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol), who took the final point. Johann Zarco finished tenth. Francesco Bagnaia was 13th. Fabio Quartararo crashed on lap 3 at Turn 14 while trying to pass Diogo Moreira, rejoined and finished last of the classified riders. No penalties were announced that would change the podium.

Bezzecchi makes history in qualifying

Only hours earlier, Bezzecchi had produced the day's other headline on the grid: pole in 1:29.982, the first MotoGP lap at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli under one minute 30 seconds. The previous all-time record belonged to Francesco Bagnaia, 1:30.031 in 2024. Bezzecchi lowered it by 0.049 seconds.

Márquez qualified second, 0.198 seconds behind. The front row was Bezzecchi, Márquez and Fermín Aldeguer, who had come through Q1. Bagnaia failed to escape Q1 and qualified only 14th, immediately behind Quartararo. Álex Márquez crashed twice in Q2, still took ninth on the grid and recovered to fifth in the Sprint.

Sunday's Grand Prix

The San Marino and Rimini Riviera MotoGP Grand Prix continues on Sunday, 13 September. The main race is scheduled for 14:00 local time in Italy (13:00 in the United Kingdom, 15:00 in Romania). Bezzecchi starts from pole, with Márquez alongside him and Aldeguer third. The Sprint showed that Márquez can turn second on the grid into the lead from the first corner.

After Sunday's race, the winner, podium, championship standings and any incidents should be covered in a new article, not a rewrite of this Saturday report.

Sources consulted: Marc Marquez denies Bezzecchi gold in tense Misano Sprint stand-off | MotoGP.com; Showstopper: Bezzecchi goes sub 90 seconds at Misano to beat Marquez to pole | MotoGP.com; Tissot Sprint classification | Official MotoGP timing; Ruthless Marquez beats Bezzecchi to win San Marino sprint | Reuters / The Straits Times.

Archive photo: Marc Márquez on a Ducati at the Czech Grand Prix, Brno, 18 July 2025, Pavel21kriz, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. This is not a photograph from the Misano Sprint on 12 September 2026. The image was cropped to 16:9.